Because that was what Hines wanted…
Olympiacos returns from Italy undefeated since edging Siena as well in the second friendly game played at Cagliari.
The “reds” of Giorgos Barztokas who played without captain Vassilis Spanoulis (he did not play to get some rest) added another great performance and have the absolute winning record (5/5) in the friendly games played up to now.
Olympiacos began very strong and led the score, created small margins at times. At the end of the third quarter, the Pireaue team led by 8 (56-48) and completely controlled the game, but the refs started sending their fellow countrymen to the free throw line. Siena shot 17 free throws in the last quarter and the game became a derby till the end. That was until Kyle Hines took the lead in the last minute and with six consecutive points led the European and Greek Champions to victory.
ΤHE QUARTERS: 21-17, 37-36, 56-48, 71-67
ΟLYMPIACOS (Bartzokas): Hines 8, Antic 9(1), Perperoglou 10 (5reb.), Dorsey 6(4reb.), Sloukas 4, Mavroeidis 6 (4reb.), Gecevicius 11(2 3p.-4 reb.), Printezis 9(1), Papanikolaou 6, Mantzaris (5as.), Κatsivelis 2
SIENA (Bianchi): Kasun 6, Brown 14(1), Eze 8, Carraretto 10(1), Rasic, Kangur 2, Sanikidze 12, Ress, Janning 5(1), Hackett 6, Moss 4(1)
PAPANIKOLAOU: No importance…
Kostas Papanikolaou spoke about the game against Siena that closed the series of friendly games Olympiacos played in Italy as well as about the pre-season up to now: “If you ask me what the score against CSKA was, I really don’t remember and I don’t mean to sound arrogant, it’s just that results bear no significance at this point. Who remembers what the results were in last season’s friendly games? For me the important thing is to work right and this is obvious on court despite we our feet are rather heavy right now. We have many things to correct but also many days to work” ‘Pap’ stressed and added: “For example, there were moments tonight that we lost focus and this shouldn’t be happening. We have made some very serious mistakes in every game we have played up to now and we have to try and correct them every day”.